Israel and Iran stopped the strikes amid disagreements between Trump and Netanyahu. What the media is writing

Israel and Iran have made it clear that they will cease hostilities against each other. This happened after a call by US President Donald Trump to stop the strikes. He noted that now his peace talks with Tehran can continue. At the same time, relations between the head of the White House and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are escalating. How the media assess the situation in the Middle East is in the Izvestia digest.

The Washington Post: Israel and Iran signal an end to attacks

After exchanging volleys of long-range missiles that contradicted US President Donald Trump's calls for restraint and threatened to plunge the region back into a full-scale war, Israel and Iran made it clear that the attacks were over for the time being. By the morning of June 8, the two countries had fired dozens of missiles at each other, raising doubts about Trump's ability to contain the escalating crisis, which has caused serious economic damage around the world.

In his statement on the suspension of strikes on Iran, Netanyahu warned Tehran that his country would "respond decisively" if it was attacked again. Shortly before his message, Iran said it had given Israel a "painful response" and would stop its attacks, according to a statement by the Iranian armed forces headquarters published in state media.

Bloomberg: Trump says peace talks are going according to plan

Trump reiterated progress toward ending the conflict with Iran after he brokered a cessation of hostilities between Israel and the Islamic Republic and easing tensions that threatened to derail broader peace efforts. The US president issued a statement a few hours after Iran and Israel agreed to stop mutual strikes after the escalation of the conflict, during which both countries launched ballistic missiles.

When the clashes subsided, a U.S. Army Apache helicopter crashed near the Strait of Hormuz, and it was not clear if the aircraft had a technical malfunction or was shot down by Iran. Responding to a question about the incident, Trump said that everything was fine with the pilots and that the report would be published later.

Axios: How Israel and Iran almost dragged Trump back into the war

The past 24 hours have highlighted the risk that the US will once again find itself embroiled in major fighting in the Middle East, despite Trump's clear desire to get out of this situation. Trump has pulled Israel and Iran back from the brink of conflict, but it's unclear how long that will last. 100 days after the start of the war, Trump has not been able to conclude an agreement to end it and has spent the last 24 hours trying his best to prevent its full-scale resumption.

An Israeli source said that Netanyahu claimed in a conversation with Trump that inaction in response to the Iranian attack would be bad for Israel, bad for the United States, and bad for the deal that Trump was trying to conclude. His argument was that inaction would make it clear that Iran had an advantage.

Associated Press: Netanyahu and Trump disagree on war

The latest Israeli strikes on Lebanon and Iran have clearly shown that Trump and Netanyahu, who started the war in concert, now want different things. This is due to the fact that Trump, whose party is preparing for elections later this year, wants to end the unpopular war and reopen the Strait of Hormuz in order to lower gasoline prices. Netanyahu, who is also facing elections this year, is under pressure to stop Hezbollah's attacks and prove that he is winning the war with Iran and its allies. He also needs to build relationships with Israel's most important ally without giving the impression that he is groveling before it.

While Iran withstood weeks of massive strikes and kept the Strait of Hormuz closed, the Americans and Israelis became increasingly disillusioned with each other. In the United States, prices for gasoline and other goods have skyrocketed, so much so that even some former supporters have accused Trump of violating his election promise not to drag the United States into another Middle East quagmire. There was growing dissatisfaction in Israel with Netanyahu's inability to achieve lasting victory in the wars launched after the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023. More than two years later, Hamas still controls parts of the Gaza Strip, Hezbollah continues to fire rockets at Israel, and the Iranian government and nuclear program remain intact.

In a second breath: The Middle East is threatening global trade again

Israel and Iran exchanged blows, and the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait in the Red Sea was under threat of being blocked.

Reuters: Israel seeks to influence peace talks

Israel and Iran stopped exchanging strikes shortly after Trump ordered them to do so, although both sides left open the possibility of resuming hostilities. However, by launching the strikes, Israel sent a signal to Washington that a final agreement with Iran could not be reached if Israel's interests were ignored. Trump, who started the war on Israel's side in February, is trying to reach a peaceful settlement with Iran, while excluding Israel from these negotiations.

One of Israel's goals is to make sure that any future agreement between the United States and Iran does not deprive Israel of the right to attack Hezbollah in southern Lebanon and leave its troops there. According to a senior Israeli Defense Ministry official, Netanyahu raised the issue during telephone conversations with Trump over the weekend. The short-term resumption of Israeli—Iranian hostilities and Netanyahu's refusal to comply with Trump's demands are the latest episode to expose the tensions that have at times arisen between the two conservative leaders.